Paymob enters the UAE: Fintech startup Paymob has expanded into the UAE and made the country its regional hub, it said in a statement (pdf) yesterday. The company is looking to make a “sizable investment” in the UAE market over the next three years, the release reads.

New hub, new management: Paymob has appointed financial services professional Omar Haddad (LinkedIn) as its GCC general manager. Haddad will build a more than 150-strong team in the UAE, according to the statement.

What they said: “There are currently over 400k businesses in the UAE, 61% of which are microbusinesses and 38% are SMEs. We see a massive opportunity to serve this market segment and our goal over the next three years is to empower 15% of those merchants with the latest payment technologies to fuel their growth and further digitize the economy,” Paymob CEO and co-founder Islam Shawky said.

Paymob raised USD 50 mn in Egypt’s largest ever reported fintech series B round earlier this year, led by Kora Capital, PayPal’s venture capital arm PayPal Ventures, and Clay Point. The company had plans to use the capital to fund its regional expansion plans across the GCC and North Africa, to add new products, and expand its merchant base. Co-founder Alain El Hajj was our founder of the week earlier this year.

TPAY THE LATEST LOCAL STARTUP TO TIGHTEN ITS BELT-

Mobile payments platform TPay Mobile is restructuring its business and trimming its headcount amid financing challenges, Al Mal reported Sunday, citing what it said was a source familiar with the matter. Company representatives did not respond to requests for comment when we reached out this week.

TPay said last week that it is “refreshing its strategy”: TPay alluded to a restructure last week, saying it would embark on a “reorganization” of the company that will have a “compact” management team. The statement made no mention of financial challenges and quoted CEO Gaston Aussems saying that TPay has a “solid business model and healthy cash flow.”

Has there been a management shuffle? The company didn’t say explicitly that the company will reduce headcount, though the managing partner at Helios Investment Partners ⁠— one of TPAY’s shareholders ⁠— indicates that new people have been brought into management. “We’re excited to see TPAY’s new leadership team deliver this vision and remain fully committed to the business,” Babatunde Soyoye is quoted as saying in the statement.

Founder Sahar Salama stepped down as CEO in July and is now serving as “group chairwoman,” a role her LinkedIn page notes is part time. Sahar appeared on our podcast Making It back in May 2020.

The global economic slowdown has caught up with the Egyptian startup scene, with VC funding across the board tightening amid fears of recession. Down rounds — when a company sells shares at a lower price than its previous funding round — are everywhere, while the implosion of local startup Capiter has some in the startup scene predicting that more young companies will face funding challenges, with reports of layoffs now becoming more common.

MOZARE3 COULD PARTNER WITH IFC-

Agri-fintech startup Mozare3 inked an agreement for a “potential partnership” with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to support local farmers “digitally and financially,” Mozare3 CEO Hussein Abou Bakr said in a LinkedIn post. “It would be a leap in knowledge transfer to benefit small farmers in Egypt from experiences and projects of IFC in other relevant countries,” he said.

About Mozare3: The agri-fintech platform manages the supply chain between corporations and Egyptian farmers including digital invoices and deliveries, and offers farmers embedded finance and agronomy support. Founded in 2020 by Abou Bakr (Founder of the Week) and Tamer El Raghy (LinkedIn), Mozare3 raised a seven-figure pre-series A round last year from Algebra Ventures and Disruptech.